LITERACY EDUCATION-TOWARDS INFORMED TEACHING …
Transcript of LITERACY EDUCATION-TOWARDS INFORMED TEACHING …
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TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY LANGUAGE AND
LITERACY EDUCATION-TOWARDS INFORMED TEACHING PRACTICES
Seema Sharma1 & Priya Khurana
2
1Assistant Professor in Education, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, University of Delhi
2Assistant Professor in Education, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, University of Delhi
Early Language and Literacy Education (ELLE) is a major predictor and precursor of the
child’s lifelong learning. Reading and writing being the foundational skills provide a strong
base for the child’s later educational pursuits. ELLE is a significant academic subject with its
own knowledge base in the western context whereas in India it still struggles to find its space.
Several governmental and non-governmental organizations have conducted noteworthy work
on literacy education resulting in remarkable achievements. However, the challenges to
providing effective language and literacy education are many. The present teacher education
programmes fail to adequately orient the teachers towards approaches to teach literacy. This
calls for urgent attention from early years practitioners to address these concerns by
strengthening literacy education in schools. It is here that the continuing professional
development programmes come into fore to fill up the lacunae between current pedagogical
trends and prevalent practices in school. Thus, in the present paper the researcher has
attempted to build a case for teachers’ professional development in ELLE to equip them with
the required competencies to cater to the literacy needs of young children.
Key words: Early Language, Early Literacy, Language Education, Literacy Education,
Teacher Education, Professional Development
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Abstract
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Introductory Paragraphs
Early Literacy refers to the acquisition of reading and writing abilities that children develop,
without formal instruction, before they begin to read and write in a conventional way. It
actually begins at a much earlier age than most expect.
Effective early literacy intervention is the major predictor of the child’s lifelong learning. It
plays a key role in enabling the kind of early learning experiences that research shows are
linked with academic achievement, reduced grade retention, higher graduation rates and
enhanced productivity in adult life. In fact, achievement of all goals of education depends on
the ability to read and write.
Awareness and Understanding of Literacy
Examining the conceptualization of literacy it would not be wrong to say that literacy has
come a long way since the Doordarshan advertisement (Purab se surya uga, faila ujiyara…..)
of Each One Teach One movement under Rashtriya Saksharta Mission (1988). Initially,
literacy was understood as the ability to sign one’s name or to learn to decode the text
(Census of India, 2011). This had inadvertently become the evidence of literacy. Later it
began to be viewed as a skill necessary for academic purposes and economic independence.
However, this conception was also criticized by the literacy researchers as being inadequate.
They argued that literacy can not be seen as an end in itself when in reality it is a means to
almost all other learning. The effective language and literacy skills pave way for human
empowerment. The position paper on Early Language and Literacy (2016) also takes the
stance that literacy is not an end in itself, but is a means to most other learning and social
and economic empowerment. It further stresses that if the intent of education is to enable
people to live to their fullest potential in modern-day societies, and to be able to participate as
citizens of a democratic society, then, literacy needs to be aligned with those goals and
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viewed as a broader and more complex construct—one that encompasses social, cultural,
economic and political domains.
Early literacy-A world view
‘Emergent literacy’, as a comparatively newer premise in the context of early literacy, is a
term first used by Marie Clay to describes young children’s interaction with books and other
print material leading to the development of pre-reading and pre-writing skills, even before
they read or write in the conventional sense. Emergent literacy is a significant factor in the
early learning success. Literacy learning begins very early in life. It develops through
constant interactions with people and the environment. If the experiences of children are
supported by adults through meaningful interactions, then new vocabulary in context is learnt
by the child leading to effective literacy acquisition.
Early Language & Literacy-The Indian Context
Reading and writing are foundational skills; without being able to read, write well, a child
cannot progress in the education system. Unfortunately, learning to read and write is still a
rocket science in India. The quality of literacy education has been steadily on the decline in
spite of some major policy interventions. Literacy outcomes are unacceptably poor,
particularly in Government and rural schools. Though, the governmental efforts such as
UEE, SSA, RTE etc. have borne quantitative fruits, qualitatively we still lag far behind. The
major policy documents in the recent past have also pointed to the need to consider early
language and literacy more seriously. The Padhe Bharat Bhade Bharat initiative by the
Government of India has articulated a vision for 3 R’s i.e. early reading, writing and
mathematics, mainly for Classes 1 and 2. It states its first goal as ‘to enable children to
become motivated, independent and engaged readers and writers with comprehension
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possessing sustainable and lasting reading and writing skills and achieve learning levels
appropriate to the class of study’. The picture is not a very pleasant one in urban schools too.
Recent researches indicate that children’s reading comprehension and writing fluency levels
are at an all time low still. Though, after massive intervention policies and programmes the
need for reading has come to the fore but it is still limited to the decoding of letters. Writing
instruction, explicitly, still has not been able to achieve that standing in the discussions of
educationists. Worryingly in schools, writing is understood as being able to produce perfect
letters on page and is synonymously used for handwriting. The opportunities provided to
children for written expression are copying text from the blackboard, the mundane letter to a
friend or an application to the principal to essays on a few routine topics. These tasks neither
provide the required exposure to express nor do anything to enhance child’s thinking abilities.
In this background, enabling children to use reading and writing as a means to achieve higher
level personal and societal goals seems to be a distant dream. The National Council of
Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed ‘Learning Indicators’
(2014) that focuses on class-wise learning outcomes, thereby supplementing the stage-wise
curricular expectations in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) (2005) and the
syllabi developed in concurrence with the NCF. None of these policy documents explicitly
address the pre-school age group of 3-6 years. It is noteworthy that it is during these years
that the foundations of literacy are laid and can be effectively complemented with the
provision of relevant and meaningful learning experiences to the children. The young
children, thus, should be provided with opportunities to participate and engage as emergent
readers and writers for an extended period of time (e.g., 3-6 years of age) before being
expected to develop into conventional readers and writers (6-8 years of age).
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Curricular Concerns in Literacy Teaching
Literacy teaching in Indian schools presents a dismal picture. Though many policies and
programmes have been continually implemented to support literacy learning and teaching in
schools, the never ending pressure of completing the prescribed syllabus and engagement
with other clerical tasks leave the teachers with no time to fruitfully implement the
programmes. The limited competence of teachers, further results in non-achievement of
objectives of these programmes. There are other factors also that compound the difficulties in
literacy acquisition of children. As enlisted in the Early Language and Literacy Paper (2016)
these are: the rigid curriculum, the premium placed by the system on standard language,
the devaluation of the child’s home language, the tendency to treat the child as ‘tabula
rasa’ discounting the rich understanding of oral language and other competencies the
child brings to the classroom, the perception of multi-linguality in the classroom as an
obstacle to the teaching of language and literacy rather than as a resource, the primacy
of the textbook over the child’s lived experience and the absence of the child’s voice in
the classroom. All these serve to further alienate the child from the pleasure of engaging
with reading and writing.
Current Status of Early Language and Literacy Education in India
The real concern of Early Literacy in the Indian context is inappropriate, erroneous and
untested instructional methods. Children struggle due to incorrect pedagogy of language
teaching and de-contextualized textbook. What needs to be blamed is the blatant disregard in
understanding intricacies of Early Literacy Education. Setting correct instructional methods
for language acquisition at an early stage, thus, is the need of the hour. The present teacher
education programmes fail to adequately orient the pre-service/in-service teachers towards
approaches to teaching early language and literacy. Teachers go to the classes without sound
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understanding of the nature of language and literacy learning and the theoretical premises on
which the various approaches of literacy instruction are based. They do not find themselves
sufficiently equipped to choose approaches suited to individual and group needs.
Early Language and Literacy Education, with its own theory and knowledge base, is a
significant academic subject in the western context whereas in India the ground realities
suggest that it is still in its infancy. There are Degree programmes exclusively focusing on
Early Literacy Education in Universities outside India. A few are:
Table 1: Programms on Early Language and Literacy outside India
S.No. Name of the Program University Country
1
PG Diploma Early Literacy /
MA Early Literacy
University of
Wales
United Kingdom
2
Master of Science in
Education:
Major in Early Childhood
Literacy
University Of
Wilkies
Barre,
Pennsylvania
3
PG Diploma
Children and Young People's
Literacy, Language and
Literature
University of
Strathclyde
United Kingdom
4
Early Literacy
Graduate Certificate Program
University Of
Nebraska–Lincoln
Canada
These programmes mentioned in the above list are for reference purpose only. Apart from
these there are many other certificate/diploma/degree programmes available for specialized
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study in the area of Early Language and Literacy Education. Whereas, back home, in India,
this is taught as one of the topics of one of the courses of Diploma/Degree programmes in
Education. Here also, due to lack of well-informed, contextualized resources available for
literacy education and the subject competence of teacher educators, the teachers do not get
sufficiently equipped to teach literacy. Thus, literacy teaching is happening in a sporadic
manner in schools which results in poor achievement levels of literacy in our schools.
The following table provides an overview of the placement of Early Language and Literacy
Education in the initiatives of some national level institutions and publications.
Table 2: Placement of Early Language and Literacy Education in Indian Educational
System
S.No. Institution Program/Publication Year
Placement of Early
Language
Education in
Curriculum
1 NCERT
Position Paper-Early
Childhood Education
2006
Talks of pre-literacy
and active games to
promote early
literacy
2
NCTE
(Guidelines)
Diploma in ECCE 2010
COURSE VIII
Pedagogy in Early
Childhood
Education
Unit II
Development of
language and
communication
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3
NCTE
(Guidelines)
Diploma in Pre-School
Education
2014
Course VI
Development of
Language and
Literacy in Children
4 SCERT, Delhi Diploma in ECCE 2014
Does not talk about
the Early Language
component at course
level. (Detailed
scheme could not be
procured)
5
SCERT,
Chandigarh
Diploma in Pre-School
Education
2015
Course VI
Development of
Language and
Literacy in Children
6 NCERT Learning Indicators 2014
Talks of learning
indicators in Hindi
and English for
Classes I onwards.
7 NCERT-DEE National Documentation
Unit 2014
Works as a resource
center for Pre-
school and Primary
Education.
8 NCERT-DEE
Barkha Series and other
reading Resources
(Padhne ki samajh,
Padhne ki dehleez par,
etc.) for teachers were
developed
2007
till
date
The resources were
used during a pilot
project in Mathura
Schools for Classes
I onwards.
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This present status calls for urgent attention from early years practitioners as they have a vital
role to play in addressing these concerns by strengthening the early years of language and
literacy education, both in terms of teacher education, and classroom processes and practices.
It is here that the continuing professional development programmes come into play to fill up
the lacunae between current pedagogical trends and prevalent practices in school.
Teachers’ competence – a decisive factor in Early Years Education
Early Childhood Educators are expected to have thorough understanding of child
development and various aspects of early years education so as to be able to
provide conducive learning environment and rich educational experiences to young
learners
include all those who are less advantaged and vulnerable
engage learners of varying abilities and from diverse backgrounds
connect with and engage families and community
The quality of Early Childhood Education depends greatly on the educators and education
received by them. Thus it becomes imperative to ensure that Early Childhood Educators are
sufficiently equipped to provide the young people with an enriched learning environment to
nurture their linguistic and socio-cognitive skills and values and prepare them for life long
learning.
Researches reveal that the knowledge, skills, disposition and practices of teachers are
significant factors in determining how much a young child learns and develops his literacy
skills. Teachers are expected to have thorough understanding of language development and
various aspects of early years education so as to be able to provide conducive learning
environment and rich linguistic experiences to young learners which help foster reading,
writing in them. Early childhood professionals have come to realize the importance of
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language and literacy in preparing children to succeed in school, but the ground realities are
quite different. The poor quality of language education in schools is a direct result of poor
quality of teacher education and teacher training. Thus, the key to making improvement in
learning outcomes is to invest in preparing better qualified teachers having sound knowledge
of literacy pedagogy.
Teachers’ Professional Development-A way forward
Research (Position Paper on ECCE-2006, NCFTE-2010) indicates that the quality of the
curriculum and variety of reference material used for early childhood education and the kind
of training teachers and teacher educators receive as early childhood educators have
direct implications when it comes to ensuring the learning conditions for children. Thus,
there is need to evolve specially designed programmes at the degree and post-degree levels
for the training of teachers and teacher educators. One possibility is to develop the M.Ed. as a
teacher educator training programme with specialization in pre-school/elementary/ secondary
teacher education. Also, specialized degree programs for early childhood educators can be
developed to address the need of ECE sector.
When designed well these programmes/opportunities help teachers master content, hone
teaching skills and address challenges that they face in the classrooms. Thus, quality
continuing professional development (CPD) is necessary to ensure that teachers are able to
meet the demands of diverse children needs, engage parents, as well as become active agents
of their own professional growth. Also, sustained professional development of teachers is
associated with more positive and stimulating teacher behavior and positive child outcomes.
The policy paper on Early Language and Literacy (2016) explicitly states that there is
currently no position paper in the country that addresses issues related exclusively to
early language and literacy. It further reiterates that the position paper is envisioned as
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a document that will enable policy makers and educators (practitioners and
academicians) to develop a set of informed practices in the area of language and literacy
development for young children. This categorically points towards the ill-informed
practices prevalent in the early literacy sector, as it is clear that in absence of any such
document, research based programmes addressing the curricular and training needs of this
area cannot be made available. The paper on Early Language and Literacy (2016) also
calls for orientation workshops/ trainings and teacher education programmes for
building the conceptual understanding required for supporting a comprehensive early
language and literacy programme.
Conclusion
Thus, in the light of the above discussion, it can be stated that a strong need for equipping and
empowering the early years’ cadre is felt. The dearth of contextual reference material and
quality professional development programmes for teachers in the area of Early Language and
Literacy Education needs to be compensated for. Thus, the author suggests developing a
professional development programme pertaining to Early Language and Literacy Education
for in-service teachers with the objective of equipping them with the required competencies
to cater to the literacy needs of young children.
References
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